OLESYA STASIUK, HEAD OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE HOLODOMOR-GENOCIDE, SHARES MORE ABOUT THE DIGITAL PROJECTS
Iryna Petrenko, Unian
February 4, 2021
In a pandemic, cultural institutions were forced to reconsider their approaches to work, learn and engage visitors without actually opening their doors. The lockdown did not prevent the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide from implementing two international and eight national projects. Olesya Stasiuk, Head of the museum, shared her experience amid a pandemic, the museum’s digital efforts and countering Russian disinformation.
Who are the core visitors of the museum? What age groups do you focus on?
Before the pandemic, 60% of our visitors were foreign tourists, while 40% were Ukrainians. During a pandemic, the ratio remains the same; however I would like to see the opposite.
We do not focus specifically on a particular age category, but do try to engage the young, the old and the survivors. Through interviews, we help survivors talk about their pain, let them understand that their memories are important. Their suffering and this crime will be remembered. Last year, a single online resource, Svidchennia [Testimonies], was launched. Our volunteers digitized and published eyewitness accounts of the Holodomor and the mass artificial famines of 1921-1923 and 1946-1947.
Should every Ukrainian visit your museum at least once?
In order to understand Ukraine’s history of XX century and what's happening now, it is a must. Ukrainians need to know the truth about the Holodomor genocide and why this crime was possible. This crime was first tested in 1921-1923. The Bolsheviks saw that the famine can be used as a method to bring Ukrainians to their knees. Accordingly, the famine of 1932-1933 was crafted. The famine of 1946-1947, which is called “postwar”, employed the same tactic; confiscating the wealthy villagers' belongings and grain and forcing the people into collective farms. The scale was lower, however the communist government no longer needed to kill so many people. They just had to drive Ukrainians into collective farm slavery.
Should parents tell their children about the Holodomor?
Yes, children need to be told from the age of five or six. Then they will understand the reasons to faithfully protect their country's independence. Knowing the truth about the Holodomor is a safeguard against its recurrence in the future. After all, this could be done to people when their country is occupied. The museum has developed an orientation lesson for first-graders. The lesson is based on the topic of human rights and mutual respect. Since teachers and parents are cautious it was difficult for us to find first-graders for the trial lesson.
This year we plan to publish a textbook “The Holodomor – the genocide of the Ukrainian nation” for 10th graders. The Holodomor Research Institute had been preparing it for several years so that teachers would not have to search for information on the internet (as it may be fake). Last year we actually encountered a fake site of the Holodomor Museum, where various myths were presented alongside truthful information. The website stated that this was an all-national famine, not a genocide of Ukrainians ... We reported this to law enforcement. Usually, such sites are created in Russia.
Why do foreigners visit the museum?
This is not their history; however it is the history of Europe. In the 1930s, grain from the Soviet Union was exported. Some countries were aware that the communist government was tailoring a famine in Ukraine, so they refused to buy grain from the USSR (countries such as Austria and Switzerland). In other countries, governments knew, but no reaction ensued. In 1933, Germany bought 70% of the grain exported by the Soviet Union. This is part of a European narrative. Moreover, we need to remember that seventeen countries have already recognized the Holodomor as genocide. In memory of the crime, other countries should follow suit.
Is the international recognition of the Holodomor as genocide connected to the fact that so few Holomodor witnesses are no longer among us?
We need to understand the importance of this recognition and work systematically in each country. It is very unfortunate that witnesses pass away. There is little time to record interviews with the remaining survivors. Thankfully, eyewitness accounts were collected back in the late 1980s and 1990s, with the issue getting the limelight during Viktor Yushchenko’s presidency. The problem is that the successor to the Soviet Union, Russia, continues to this day to deny genocide on international platforms. They claim there was an "all-national famine" because people were also dying of starvation in the North Caucasus. In fact, these places were compact Ukrainian settlements in Russia.
Is Russian propaganda also fueling Ukrainians reject Holodomor?
Russia wasted a lot of energy, time and money to deny the crime committed by the communists. For 70 years, we’ve been under Russian occupation, subjected to propaganda. The last person sentenced for mentioning the Holodomor received his verdict in 1986. Our exhibit “People of Truth” was a special tribute to those who put their careers, their freedom, and even their lives at stake in order to preserve and circulate the truth about the Holodomor.
In the late 1980s, acclaimed researchers Lidia Kovalenko and Volodymyr Manyak wrote the Black Book about Holodomor. Afterwards, Ms. Kovalenko had to tell her colleagues that her husband had been killed ... It wasn’t a car accident, as formally reported. They were intimidated because of their research of the Holodomor.
There’s been less ignorance in the past years. More Ukrainians realize the Holodomor was in fact an act of genocide. Genocide is about destroying culture, destroying church, faith, intelligentsia; it's about moving children from one group to another, Russification and physical destruction or prevention of childbirth. If we understand what genocide is and show its massive spread in 1932-1933, people will perceive modern-day developments differently.
2020 was all about lockdown and quarantine restrictions due to a pandemic. What were the main challenges for the museum?
Perhaps the most high-profile challenge was the act of vandalism against the Bitter Memories of Childhood sculpture on the night of August 22, 2020. This sparked public outrage in Ukraine and beyond. We received great support from embassies and consulates. An instant reaction soon helped restore the sculpture. Hence, the idea of deploying an Honorary Guard from the Ministry of International Affairs at the museum is worth exploring. After all, the museum is part of the President’s protocol ceremony. Foreign leaders visit the museum along with their delegations.
Last year, we signed a memorandum of cooperation and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and they handed over declassified digitized case files from their archives. These are unique documents relating to the Law of Spikelets and documentation of cannibalism. Also last year there was an urgent need for going digital, to make visitors feel safe. Therefore, we made the museum more accessible online. We created a video tour and educational training courses, an “Audio Guide for Everyone” (a 40-minute audio tour translated into 33 languages). We are the first museum in Ukraine to translate our tour into so many languages. With the support of the Ukrainian Culture Fund, we adapted our sightseeing tour for the blind, as well as the website, in accordance with international web-accessibility standards. This will make it easier for visually impaired visitors to gain access to the content.
With active promotion of digital projects are you concerned that visitors might stop visiting the museum?
I don’t think online projects will reduce traffic. On the contrary, those who saw the information online will want to come to the museum. People want to see things with their own eyes and talk with our guides.
Do you have further plans as for inclusive projects?
We want to enhance access to the first stage of the museum, where reconstruction works are now underway. In the hall, we’ll put up tactile signs for the visually impaired; install Braille boards by the sculptures of angels, a sculpture of a girl with spikelets and at the entrance. We also plan to soon present the tour in sign language.
What other projects has the museum organized?
Last year we completed two international and eight national projects. I’ve already mentioned the audio guide, allowing foreign tourists to listen the tour in their native language. We are also proud of the expedition project. The grant from the Ukrainian Culture Fund enabled the museum to work together with the Ukraїner platform in order to collected 120 video testimonies of Holodomor survivors and witnesses. The support of the Ukrainian Culture Fund also allowed us to create a unique mobile tour app called Track Holodomor History, which explores and delivers information about locations of Kyiv which were associated with the Holodomor.
The successful exhibition “Maria” by a Canadian artist of Ukrainian origin Lesya Marushchak and an exhibition by the émigré artist Viktor Tsymbal were also featured. More than 200 new pieces have been added to our collection and five publications on the Holodomor have been released.
